Want to know what the masses aren’t doing? Read on.
It’s the time of year when wedding publications trawl search data, surveys and anecdotes to summarise the biggest trends in weddings this year and make their predictions for 2026 (here’s one from Hitched for example).
Bridgerton gowns, bubble hems, basque waists, second dresses and statement veils (duh) are on the rise, apparently. As interesting and insightful as all this is, as with all wedding traditions, my advice remains: adopt the ones that work for you and forget about the rest.
For anyone needing an antidote to reports on what everyone else is doing, here’s my own 2025 round-up of anti-trends: this is a report of what no-one else is doing, what people asked me to make for them because they couldn’t find it in the mainstream boutiques.
These are the wedding un-trends.
Ice-cream shades of pink and mint green, overlaid with bright floral embroidery……and some in-jokes, cute personal references and favourite characters.The bride’s late mum’s handwriting embroidered in blue on the ribbon wrapping her bouquetTribute tattoo embroidered on a veilTurn it greenTurn it pink, blush, peach and purpleAdd textureAdd volumeMake it the longest veil I’ve ever createdMake it change colour in daylightMake it CinderellaMake it Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and ZeldaMatching – but not too closely matching – jacket embroideryPumpkins and flowersPastel embroidery to repair the bride’s mother’s original veil
And there are more, but as the weddings have yet to take place, I can’t reveal all yet. But here’s a clue about one of them:
How did THIS become a time of sheer joy, in which I was willing the tyre guy to take his time rescuing me?
The hard shoulder of the M25 with a flat tyre is not the best start to a Saturday evening, especially when the RAC guy discovers the spare wheel you’ve had stashed in the boot for eight years doesn’t even belong to – or therefore fit – your car.
I’d had a brilliant day, the first of three on a tea-charged corsetry course (www.moodycorsetry.co.uk), and had foregone having a wee before I left because I figured I could last the 50 minute drive home, even after several cups of tea throughout the afternoon.
Ten minutes in, a lot of smoke from my front nearside wheel announced I should have gone when I’d had the chance. When the RAC’s ETA was two hours, I hopped a fence, scrambled up a bank and found some trees where I could cop a squat in the rain and have a good think about my choices.
A 90 minute wait for the RAC bled into a short 45mph limp on a neon orange loaned wheel and a further hour’s wait for the emergency tyre man at Cobham Services. Blue and shivering from the cold, I parked as far as I could from the backfiring, revving engines of a boy racer meet and tried to find consolation in an overpriced chai latte.
But then the cavalry arrived. Not the tyre man, but my beautiful bride Charlotte dropped her full wedding album. And oh my goodness, I could have sat shivering in the middle of that boy racer meet all night. Because LOOK.
I hope you enjoy these pics as much as I did, wherever you are to see them.
Couple: Charlotte & Sam (@worldof_char and @sarnuel) 26/07/25 The longest veil I’ve ever made, at five metres (just under 200″), with bespoke embroidery and trimmed with exquisite appliquèd lace.
I won the Quirky Weddings Award for Weddingwear! The Quirkys are the UK’s only awards for alterative wedding suppliers.
I am so freaking happy!
Winner winner chicken dinner
I know everyone says this but I was absolutely not expecting to heat the Quirky Weddings founder Lily Jones to call my name. My fellow finalists are all weddingwear creators I’ve not only admired for years, followed on social media and regularly turned to for advice and sanity checks. Hell, one of them is even a judge on my category for The Wedding Industry Awards, which I’ve also entered this year (hi Bex, I love you very much).
Legend Bridal, Bex Brides, Caroline Versallion, Aimee at Corsetry & Couture and Harriet Christelow London are all top-of-their-game awesome so please check them out. We all do different things, are in different areas and will click with different people, which is so important when you’re creating such high-stakes pieces.
Maybe we should be rivals but we’re not. We love what we do, support each other and uphold standards across the industry which you can only do as a community.
Our Facebook and WhatsApp groups buzz with requests for advice, and there’s never any judgment. You’re laying yourself bare among your contemporaries when you post something like, “I’m having a brain fart and can’t remember how to do this type of zip; please can someone think for me?”, but within ten minutes – without fail – you’ll have at least five responses describing their favourite method or just empathising, “Oh God, I fucking hate those zips too.”
Best of all at the awards I finally got to meet Caroline and Aimee in person and see Legend’s Charlotte again. Next time, Bex and Harriet; I’ll have a pornstar martinis with your names on them.
And I got to meet other vendors with whom I’ve collaborated on styled shoots and real weddings. Big love and congratulations to The Lucky Sixpence, Proud Fox Ceremonies, Eva Rose Weddings, Toni Searle Beauty and Gem Wright Photography.
I don’t want this to be a glib post full of false modesty because I am so proud and very happy to have a win to beat back back imposter syndrome. But I need to credit all the finalists for all their hard work, talent and for helping to get me here too.
Also, massive kudos to Quirky Weddings for using the inclusive term ‘Weddingwear’ in the award title.
